Mumbai, April 7 The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), a group of airlines, has sought the Centre's help in removing the restrictions imposed by the Dubai Airport Authorities on foreign carriers, which limits them to one rotation per day.
In a communication to the Civil Aviation Secretary last week, FIA, which represents Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet, said that continuing these restrictions on Indian carriers is already leading to anti-competitive market conditions and substantial revenue losses, among other things.
"According to this communication, the DXB authorities have mandated flight cancellations for the Northern Summer 2026 season, effective from April 20 to May 31, applicable to both DXB (Dubai) and DWC (Al Maktoum International Airport). During this period, foreign carriers have been restricted to only one rotation per day, until further capacity becomes available," FIA said in the letter.
However, airlines based in the UAE, such as Emirates and Flydubai, have already resumed operations to India at pre-disruption levels and are not subject to similar restrictions, it said.
Flights to and from Dubai are experiencing significant disruptions due to airspace restrictions in the region amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
"This differential treatment has resulted in a significantly uneven playing field," FIA alleged, adding that continuing these restrictions on Indian carriers is already leading to anti-competitive market conditions, operational inefficiencies, substantial revenue losses, along with passenger inconvenience and disruption.
"... FIA respectfully requests the (Civil Aviation) Ministry to urgently examine the matter and approach the Dubai authorities for immediate removal of this restriction for Indian carriers so that they can reinstate operations to Dubai to pre-war levels," it said.
The FIA also said that "we further request the ministry to consider the implementation of appropriate reciprocal measures to ensure parity and fairness -- restricting the operations of Dubai carriers to the level of cumulative seat capacity deployed by Indian carriers on services to/from Dubai".